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New Badgers OL coach bringing back old-school mentality Wisconsin fans will love

The Badgers' new offensive line coach is going to get back to a mentality that Wisconsin fans fell in love with during the team's most recent successful runs.
Lorin Cox|
The Wisconsin Badgers offensive line runs drills during spring football practice at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison
The Wisconsin Badgers offensive line runs drills during spring football practice at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison | Mike De Sisti / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

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Wisconsin Badgers

New Wisconsin Badgers offensive line coach Eric Mateos is going to fit right in.

He knows exactly what Wisconsin fans want to see and hear, and he quickly endeared himself to the fanbase upon formally being hired for the job.

When the Badgers officially announced his hiring, he made it clear how important this job is at UW and how he's going to coach the position in Madison.

"Honored to steward the legendary offensive line room at Wisconsin," Mateos wrote on social media. "It’s going to get very gritty."

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That final word — gritty — is already earning him a lot of love and some high expectations for the job.

Grit represents an area of Wisconsin football in the 2010s and into the early 2020s when the school was consistently winning double-digit games under Bret Bielema, Gary Andersen and Paul Chryst.

Those teams were led by strong offensive lines that produced strong running games with some of the most talented running backs in school history.

That's the mentality Mateos wants to get back to. That also creates a bar to reach.

Better offensive line play can't fix all of the Badgers' problems with injured quarterbacks and limited play-makers.

But it can absolutely be the starting point for turning the program around back in a positive direction be establishing a foundation of physical, gritty performances in the trenches.

Related: Wisconsin Badgers lineman will enter transfer portal and play for 7th college season

Wisconsin's defensive line is already doing its part as a dominant run defense that also consistently pressured opposing quarterbacks.

Now it's the offensive line's turn to become the anchor and identity on the other side of the ball.

It's a lot to put on Mateos' shoulders, and he might not be able to fix everything in one offseason.

But turning things around starts with adding some hogs to the offensive line in the transfer portal and developing the young talent already on the roster to get back to playing like Wisconsin linemen are supposed to.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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